Keagy Village faces foreclosure
My colleague Katelyn Polantz has this story on the foreclosure of Keagy Village in Roanoke County.
The complex, with 52,000 square feet of retail space, has had trouble attracting tenants. Current tenants include Firehouse Subs, Dunkin’ Donuts, Patina Formals and Scottrade, an investment business.
The property is scheduled to be auctioned Feb. 2.
What do you think the complex needs to be successful?
January 25, 2012 - 2:14 PM
It has to have some sort of anchor store to bring in other smaller tennants. I thought the original plan was to have Kroger move their Ridgewood Farms store, which I think is now the smallest Kroger store in the area, to a new bigger store at Keagy Village.
If I remember correctly, the developers wanted to get a Harris Teeter grocery store there (which would have been great), but it never materialized. If they had a Harris Teeter there, then I would be have been shopping there every week.
Let me correct my grammar: “If they had a Harris Teeter there, then I would have shopped there every week.”
The biggest problem was bad timing. It opened right around the time the economy tanked. Few stores are expanding and 419 already has a glut of office space.
Harris Teeter or other grocery store would be nice there, besides providing a bit of competition for Kroger. I always forget Keagey Village is there, they should provide more advertising and they need an anchor store to draw more people in.
Considering the Demographics either Whole Foods or Trader Joes would seem to fit in that spot or at the soon to be vacant Food Lion on Franklin Road
@Mike. Holy crap! I was logging on just suggest that same thing!
I wish we could get a Trader Joe’s!!!
I think Whole Foods, Trader Joes and Total Wine would be great in pulling in the foot traffic. The former Ukrops site would also be a great spot for Trader Joe’s and Total Wine if the space were subdivided.
Didn’t Kroger & Harris Teeter do a store swap a few years ago to eliminate competition? They might have a no compete agreement with that store swap which means no competition for them and higher prices for their customers.
Suggest sports equipment retail store, Twist & Turns or a medical supply store as the population of over 60 is rapidly growing. Lewis Gale Hospital close by that released patients need walkers, wheelchairs, potty chairs, etc.
First, Harris Teeter probably won’t be coming to Roanoke anytime soon. Remember when HT and Kroger made the deal years ago to swap stores. I doubt HT will try to re-enter the Roanoke market.
As for Keagy Village (KV), I’m not sold on a normal grocery store being the anchor. There are too many standard grocery stores in the vicinity already for another one to be successful. Now if another Fresh Market-like gourmet store came, that might be different.
First, KV must lower their rent to $18-22/foot. Think of it as an “introductory offer” to entice businesses to come. A little rent is better than no rent. Then, once businesses are in place and are successful, the rent can gradually increase.
What KV also needs is to (finally) attract Chili’s to Roanoke. How long have we all wanted Chili’s to come to the Star City. What better place than KV? Get a few high-demand restaurants and that will start the ball rolling.
KV should look at Friendly Village in Greensboro as a model. Try to attract high-end stores like Coldwater Creek, Brooks Brothers and Apple (!!) to come to Roanoke. I know Roanoke’s demos are “too old” for many stores (I disagree, but that’s another story), but that’s where a good owner can work to convince businesses to take the chance.
Hopefully KV will get a new owner that will have the passion to see the place succeed. We can only hope for as much.
@Mike@Bryan I agree! Love, love, love Trader Joes and Whole Foods.
What is the difference between Keagy and the successful West village? Could it be the cost to lease?
I think a Dollar Tree store would be great for this mall. On the Salem side of Apperson Drive and the Oak Grove area, there aren’t any store like this to shop.
Hire a new leasing agent, this one obviously is not cutting it!
It needed to not be built in the first place. The methods used to get the land from the private homeonwers was disgusting. The developers got what they deserve. Unfortunately, the residents of the area who have been abused in this situation from the very beginning now don’t have the woods they once had nor a thriving commercial center. They have a sad monument to greed and treachery. They did not deserve that.
TRADER JOE’s or WHOLE FOODS, PLEASE! This would be a perfect location for one of those two stores. They would draw big business! KV is in Roanoke County, close to the city, very close to Salem which is where Roanoke College in (believe me, college students love Trader Joe’s)
I would LOVE for Trader Joe’s to come!!!! I shop there every time I am in Northern Va. Also a couple of nice mid range restaurants would be nice.
Put an Outback in there since the other one is full at all times… although I have no idea why.
Whole Foods/Trader Joes would be wonderful.
@ Greg…THANK YOU. How about we start rennovating the old and quit building new around here? Roanoke will never be the city people want it to be. It will always be someone’s play toy that wont allow anyone else to play with them.
Greg is right. It should never have been built.
I believe you could dedicate a section of this to restaurants/music of various styles, New Orleans, Latino Themes etc.. Make it a small Mardi Gras section in Roanoke where you get multiple foot traffic not just locally, but from across the Roanoke Valley. Have multiple ethnic foods and musical atmospheres. Also add an area for family and kids. We need something to set ourselves apart from the other strip malls. A place where people want to go. Like Board Walk at the Beach at Myrtle Beach atmosphere. I think we have enough grocery stores in this area.
The project was doomed the minute they decided to NOT put the stores facing route 419. You can hardly tell anything is there!
Location… Location… Location
Other high end stores like Banana Republic, Coach, and Apple would definitely draw a lot of foot traffic. I like the idea of Trader Joe’s as well.
Trader Joe’s, Dollar Tree, Vietnamese, Thai, or Korean Restaurant (would do mostly lunch business but open for dinner as well), cupcake store, hardware store, shoe store, salon &/or spa, book store, nail salon, pizza place, consignment store/eBay store…focus on places where both nearby Allstate employees would go on their lunch break; and also places that would serve the local neighboring area(s) well.
Dump Dunkin and add a Krisp Kreme, better yet, Chick-Fil-A!! A lot of business will not open because of Obamacare looming.
There is not enough parking at Keagy Village for a grocery store and the traffic pattern is worse than Towers upper lot. If HT, Trader Joe’s or any other grocery was considering Roanoke, I feel they could get a great deal at the Ukrops location. I also heard from a retired Kroger executive that there was a “deal” with the store swap with HT that would take HT off the table for Roanoke, which is sad, if true. Even Danville has a HT.
The parallels between Keagy Village and the First & Main development in Blacksburg are stunning. Both were supposed to be high-end mixed-use projects initially (at least I think that’s what I read a long while back), but wound up entirely commercial. Both were supposed to have a large anchor tenant to help pull traffic in, and wound up lacking said anchor tenant. Both were somewhat new retail designs with storefronts not facing the major roads. Both were supposed to have a full line-up of tenants, but opened just in time for the downturn so many storefronts have remained empty since they opened. And both are so fina ncially troubled that banks have been involved.
More fortunate timing, better planning and project execution, and possibly improved market research to know what would have the best odds of being successful might have helped both be more successful than they have been thus far.
And, to the people talking about re-development of existing facilities…absolutely! In-fill of under-used property in an urban area isn’t the worst thing…it beats sprawl (think Clearbrook), but making use of existing properties…even if it means demo and rebuilding on a previous building site, is probably the best route. And, I’ve seen many rehabilitation projects that fixed up older or historic buildings for new uses, and the results have, in many cases, been stunning. And quite often they can be much less costly than brand-new development on previously undeveloped land.
If this place really wants people, then they should lower the rent and attract places that Roanoke does not have at all. Places could include Wegmans, Pei Wei, Cosi, Coldwater Creek, Coach, and Apple. But who am I kidding? Roanoke does not have the money to support such a shopping center, and the few that do are too cheap and set in their ways.
I think that most/all of the stores and restaurants mentioned above would help tremendously! Not to be “captian obvious” here but they haven’t atrracted ANY store or restaurant that would draw any real foot traffic! And smaller businesses are not going to invest in a place where there is NO foot traffic! I think that (other than what Greg said, that it shouldn’t have even been built!) the single biggest nail in the coffin was when they lost Bonefish Grill! That restaurant was announced, during construction, as coming to that mall. Had that really happened I think many other stores and/or restaurants would have committed as well. Bonefish is a very popular restaurant and we have no other seafood places like that around here.
“27.Dump Dunkin and add a Krisp Kreme, better yet, Chick-Fil-A!! A lot of business will not open because of Obamacare looming.”
What an ironic statement.
What should they do? Kick themselves for building it in the first place.
If I remember correctly, there was quite a bit of opposition to the site to begin with. Roanoke has a trend here. If the. Site is opposed, it is usually doomed.
Keagy village: doomed
The cleared mountain across from Tanglewood: doomed
Art museum: doomed
Market building: not totally doomed but it is on the edge
Ukrops site: doomed
I’ve said before that too many times we fail to recycle building we have in place. So…they put an anchor store in keagy village then what will become of the food lion down the road? That strip mall (with famous anthony’s) is dying too and with a fancy anchor store down the road, we will then have another vacant spot that is too big for a small business and too close to a competitor to survive.
it is a forever a bad cycle. If we can’t fill the locations we already have, why do developers think something new will work. Like the mcdonalds across from the civic center, i’d rather see these empty monstrosities torn down and something new built in that spot.
First, you can NOT see inside Keagy Village from electric Rd. ! That non-visualization hurts them big time. It seems HIDDEN. Just like the Chick-fil-la out 220 south near Home Depot. I go to Valley View Chick-fil-la because I forget that there is one HIDDEN up in that home Depot development. YOU GOTTA SEE RETIAL STORES FROM THE MAIN ROAD…period.
Now as far as getting Trader Joe’s or a fresh market like store or those other high end stores in ROANOKE….HAHAHAHA! Roanoke aint Lynchburg (which is growing and happening). We here in Roanoke just are NOT hip enough, cool enough, and DON’T EARN ENOUGH MONEY to attract those stores.
In fact I dont shop at Fresh Market because they are way way too expensive! The Roanoke market is a very price sensitive market. Just like me.
I think Five Guys would be a good fit here if they decide to come back to the area.
Lynchburg has no more money then Roanoke James. Acturally Roanoke has Fresh Market as well as other high end retailers that Lynchburg does not have. Roanoke can support high end retail if retailers are willing. Just look at how many people live ion the South Roanoke area as well as Hunting hills. We have the money and would gladly shell it out to the right retailers!!!!! Instead because Roanoke is so back woods we have to go out of town to shop!!
Whole Foods for sure. How about Trader Joe’s too!
CBL that owns Valley View needs to purchase Tanglewood, Ivy Market and Keagy Village. The right owner and finance these retailers could succeed in drawing new and better tenants to the area. The problem with these three places is that the owners and marketing directors do not know what they are doing!! Tanglewood needs to clean house- it needs a high profile market director that knows what he/she are doing if they expect to draw any good new tenants!!They need new managers marketers ect!! Hopefully Keagy Village and Ivy Market will land in the right hands and suceed!!
When BoneFish Grill pulled out and none of the grocery stores where interested, it pretty much died. Looks like a ghost town when you pull in to go to Dunkin Donuts or Firehouse Subs. The day that I heard that Bone Fish Grill wasn’t coming I could here the death rattles of this shopping center. Getting a high-end Seafood place like BoneFish would have really brought in the business.
Keagy Villiage lost out- now lets hope Tanglewood benefits from the possibilty of Bonefish coming!!!!!!!!
I would love to see more in Keagy Village. I know Ntelos already pulled out. Patina appears to have cars parked at it often. Firehouse always seems to have customers. If I recall correctly, a few retailers pulled out due to the delays.
@James – I am “price sensitive” but I shop at Fresh Market. But I get a few quality items and seafood that the other grocery stores do not have. It is always busy in there. Roanoke Seems to have no issue supporting that store.
@Chris – Out of town to shop? What are you looking to buy? I can find anything I want in town, and if not there is the internet. Granted, I too shop when I go out of town, but I tend to focus on the Higher-end stores like Saks, Nimens, Nortdstroms for a few clothing items, but 90% of the time I only by off the Sales/Clearance racks thee.
On those that think Roanoke can not support a Trader Joe’s has never been in one. They are cheaper than Fresh Market, carry similar items, and have similar items like the Co-op on Grandin. They are also cheaper than the two mentioned. I think Keagy was just built at the wrong time when economy took a hit and companies tightened up. Ivy Market/Ukrops failed since it was closed on Sundays, and most people would pass several other grocery stores to get to it.
All I can say is if we want Trader Joe’s There needs to be a demand heard. GO to their website, click on “about us” and then on right side.
Theres my rant, enjoy
Whole Foods.
What about a Melting Pot? I remember hearing about their potential arrival in our area a few years ago, but nothing. Would love to see them here.
Would love, love, love to see Trader Joe’s! We’re quite excited about one coming to Charlottesville and almost always shop at the one in Williamsburg when we’re there. Also, really, really miss Harris Teeter — shop there whenever we’ve in Cville. If neither of these, would like to see something budget based and different from other area groceries like an Aldi’s